#SundayStills: Last Minute #Festivity

Published on by Yinglan

With my Christmas road trip only being 4 days away (Friday), I am as festive as I can be. I wrote I wasn’t going to put any sort of holiday decorations but in the last minute, after seeing how haunted my house looked with a flickering garage light, I decided to put up some battery-operated lights on the windows, held up by none-other-than tape. They go on and off automatically, so I won’t have to worry about a thing.

With my mom spending Christmas in Asia this year, the only person I have to ask permission to go anywhere is myself.

Last week, I managed to snag the last ticket for Friday’s 5:30 PM admission to Luminaria – the largest Christmas display in northern Utah. While spending the afternoon waiting at the mall nearby, I got to see Utah’s tallest Christmas tree. The tree stood 80 feet tall and it’s festively decorated with – according to a fact sheet – 7,000 lights, 6,000 ornaments, and traveled 760 miles to be parked at this very spot.

I sat in the lobby of the mall for some time, waiting for time to tick by until it was time for my admission to Luminaria. Work got out early that day and I had about 3 hours to kill. My colleagues asked, “Why don’t you go home?”

I responded, “Home is 30 minutes north and I don’t want to head home for an hour before spending another hour heading south.” I don’t know about you but driving so much tires me out.

After about 45 minutes of reading and people watching, I began to yawn. I’ve been up since 6 AM and didn’t know how I could make it through Luminaria on a state of tiredness. So I left the comfort of the mall and headed to a coffeeshop across the street. I knew I was not able to drink coffee at 4:30 in the afternoon, so I ordered an XL hot cocoa and sat there for the remainder of the wait.

I was glad I got in early because by the time I got back to the starting point 90 minutes later, there were throngs of adults and children coming down like a stampede. Despite the crowds, I felt a lot more festive than when I went in.

I don’t know about you but when I saw this snowman, the song – Can you build a snowman – from the movie Frozen immediately jumped into my mind. It was hilarious because I only saw the movie once when it played on TV as a Christmas special.

I was glad I went prepared with my hand-made cowl, finger-less gloves, and hat plus a super hand warmer.

Even after 15 years in a cold place like Utah, I’m not sure I would ever get used to the cold and often on chilly nights like this, I’m hesitant to go out. However, I felt I truly took my time as I walked through this time thanks to the hand warmer keeping my body warm. The displays were one of the best I’ve ever seen and some were even magical. If given the chance, I would go back again next year.

14 thoughts on “#SundayStills: Last Minute #Festivity”

  2. I love how you captured the moon in there too. I’d like to make it up there one of these years but I’m down in Hurricane, UT, so the drive is a bit far. Maybe someday… have fun on your trip. I went to Peoria, AZ a few months back and it was a really nice place.

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    1. Thank you. Yes, that’s a bit far – about 4 hours. Even at a little over an hour, I thought it was kinda far but at the same time, I looked at it as once-in-a-lifetime thing.
      I had to look up where Peoria, AZ was. That’s a bit far south. I’ll be staying in Flagstaff for 2 days and that’s as far south as I will go on this trip.

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      1. Well, if I ever decide to come up your way I’ll let you know. Maybe you can advise me on all the best places to visit. There’s a treasure hunt that goes on every year up your way. I think the last person won $25,000. I’d love to go up there for that. But like you said, it’s 4 hours… 😕 Have fun in Flagstaff. 🎄

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      2. Haha, I actually find my way to be quite boring. All the fun things happens south of Salt Lake in places like Lehi and Provo, which is about 70 or 80 miles south of me.

        It’s most likely where the treasure hunt is at.

        For me, 1 or 2 hours drive is pretty normal up here, especially when you’re driving on windy mountainous roads. A 4 hour sounds pretty good for me until it’s 4 hours driving on I-15, then that drive is just boring. 😄 If you ever come up this way, let me know.

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      3. I’m currently going to Utah Tech University and a lot of the students I’ve met there are from Salt Lake City. I can’t remember the exact location of the last treasure that was found but I think it was south of you. And yes, I’ll let you know if I’m ever coming up that way, probably wouldn’t be until summertime. My family and I love to visit all the National and State Parks, so we’re slowly working our way around to all of those. I think my favorite so far is Arches.

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      4. Some of my colleagues live down your way or have relatives there but I think people go down south to escape the cold. In fact, one of my former coworker moved to St George the moment he retired from my company.

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  3. Pingback: Sunday Stills: Show Me that You’re #Festive – Second Wind Leisure Perspectives

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